Posted 09/23/09 at 11:54:37 AM by Paul Lilly

We're all about PC gaming first and foremost, but we also can't ignore the console wars, which have been heating up in a big way lately. Hot on the heels of a $100 price cut to the Xbox 360 Elite, Microsoft is now offering an additional $50 mail-in-rebate. That brings the price down to $250 for a console that was selling for $400 not that long ago.

Purchases must be made between September 22 and October 5, 2009 to qualify. Then just head over to the Xbox 360 Elite Console rebate site, enter 49710555 as your password, and fill out the online form. As with any mail-in-rebates, be sure to pay close attention to the instructions, and get your paperwork and UPC mailed in and postmarked no later than November 20, 2009.

If you're lucky, you can score an even better deal by buying through Dell and using the 15 percent off coupon code (6FWJ247J1P44CK). Tax still applies, but shipping is free, and after all is said in done, you'll have scored an Xbox 360 Elite for about $220. Stock comes and goes, so only the most patient penny pinchers need apply.

Rebate Info
Rebate Form
Dell Link (usually out of stock)

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Posted 11/20/08 at 03:10:37 PM by Paul Lilly

Last week we reported that Continental Promotions Group (CPG), one of the largest and oldest rebate entities in the business, managed to put itself in a rather sticky situation by not having enough funds to pay off its obligations. To quickly recap, manufacturers have a pretty good idea of how many rebates on any given product will be processed and cut a check to CPG based on that amount. CPG then doles out the funds as rebate forms come trickling in, but a large chunk of money has gone inexplicably missing. According to HardOCP, CPG owes anywhere between $9 million to $12 million, but only has $3 million in cash. Oops!

No laughing matter, it's the consumers who ultimately get the raw end of the deal, but at least one company has stepped up where CPG has fallen down.  In a letter to its customers, John Malley, BFG's senior director of marketing said that it has "corrected the situation" so that U.S.-based customers are clear to cash their rebate checks.

"One of our third-party rebate processing companies recently informed us that they are experiencing financial difficulties, and that the funds provided to them by BFG Technologies to pay rebate checks for certain BFG products were no longer available," Malley writes. We are happy to inform our rebate customers in the U.S. that BFG has corrected the situation, and you CAN cash your check to receive your rebate payment. This applies to all rebate checks for BFG Technologies. For Canadian customers, please hold on to your check and do not attempt to cash it. We are actively working on a solution for you and will update this message or contact you directly before the end of this week."

Malley asks that anyone who has already tried to cash a rebate check only to have it bounce or be refused by the bank to contact sales@bfgtech.com so that BFG can issue a new check, one which should clear the bank.

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Posted 07/21/08 at 11:50:35 PM by Paul Lilly

Not everyone is sold on SSDs, but that isn't stopping almost everyone from trying to sell you one. Competition has started to heat up, and it looks as though OCZ and Super Talent are lining up for a race to see which company can offer the fastest SSDs at the lowest price point. Super Talent kicked things off with its MasterDrive MX line, offering 120MB/sec read and 40MB/sec write speeds in 30GB, 60GB, and 120GB sizes for as low as $299, but OCZ joined the race just a few months later with a low cost line of its own. OCZ's Core series drives upped the ante with a hat trick that includes slightly more storage space, better read and write speeds at up to 143MB/sec and 93MB/sec respectively, and lower price points. Game, set, match?

Not quite. Super Talent doesn't appear ready to concede the mainstream market, and to prove it, the company has revised its MX series SSDs to offer faster speeds. Both the 15GB and 30GB models now sport read speeds of 120MB/sec and write speeds of 60MB/sec, while the 60GB and 120GB boast the same read speed but increases the write speeds to 80MB/sec. "Our expert engineering team is constantly discovering new ways to improve our proudcts, and this is one improvement that will be well received by power laptop users," said Super Talent director or marketing, Joe James.

The tweaked SATA-II SSDs still trail behind OCZ's Core series, but to make them more competitive, Super Talent has begun offering a $40 rebate (PDF) when purchased through Newegg. Is it enough to make you consider a SSD?

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